A House Armed Services panel on tactical aviation is prioritizing the need for combat fighters by asking the U.S. Air Force to investigate an F-22 Raptor revival and fund an increase in the requested number of F-18 and F-35fighters in its markup of the fiscal 2017 defense authorization bill.
In 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates halted the Lockheed Martin F-22 production line after just 187 of the aircraft were made, citing the millions of dollars it cost to buy each aircraft. The number was far short of Air Combat Command’s requirement for 381 fighters and the initial plan to buy 749.
Ever since, some lawmakers have recommended restarting production, only to be shot down by others who said reopening the line would cost too much.
In the past year, U.S. Air Force deployments of the F-22 have been on the rise as a show of force against Russian aggression in Ukraine, as well as a presence in the Asia-Pacific.
The provision now pending before the House Armed Services Committee adds legitimacy to the restart-the-Raptor movement. The bill seeks an Air Force assessment of the actual costs of restarting production – considering the service’s future air superiority needs and its role in contested environments as well as plans to retire the F-15C, the potential to export the F-22 and lessons from past efforts to restart cold production lines. Exports of the F-22 are currently prohibited by law.
“U.S. air superiority continues to face a growing number of threats,” says Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee. “As a result of our adversaries closing the technology gap, and increasing demand from allies and partners for high-performance, multi-role aircraft to meet evolving and worsening global security threats, the committee believes that the prospect of restarting the F-22 production line is worthy of further exploration.”
The draft of the bill also adds funding for helicopters of many kinds – UH-60MBlackhawks, LUH-72 Lakotas and AH-64E Apaches – so the National Guard can keep four Apache battalions. The full committee is scheduled to consider this markup and drafts of legislation approved by the other HASC subcommittees on April 27.